There were 5,992 strikeouts in April, the highest April strikeout total in any season in major-league history. And it’s not just the total of strikeouts that was noteworthy; the average of 15.29 strikeouts per major-league game during April was the second-highest average in a full month in major-league history.

Thanks, Astros and Braves.

There has been a lot of talk about the increased strikeouts, with many blaming an overuse of the take-and-rake approach, others blaming any number of things. I don’t know that I’ve seen any one explanation that seems satisfactory, though. Like most things I’m sure it’s a combination of factors, even if people looking at such things almost always search for a single factor because that seems more satisfying.

I think the lack of humor in this instance would be on you – the “Troll Hall of Fame” does not actually exist, you realize

paperlions - May 3, 2013 at 11:45 AM

What I mean is that Craigs jibes mostly seem to be in the spirit of fan smack talk, and not real trolling, and rather than engage in a back and forth….Phillies fans (as a group, though not to a man/woman) seem to just get angry and throw out the “troll” label…usually, inaccurately.

Well – true. But in this specific case, using Delmon Young was used (in my opinion) for the specific purpose of eliciting a reponse – which is the text book definition of trolling (if it possible to have text book definitions for such internet phenomena).

But to be clear, I am not one of those who blames him. I just give it back It’s all fun and games, and it beats doing my job during the day

1. Chris Carter who K’d 45 times in April breaking the record by 8 for most in a month in MLB history.
2. Brett Wallace had 17 in 24 at bats, before demotion.
3. Rick Ankiel 32 k in 53 at bats.
4. Carlos “human Rain delay” Pena… 32 in 97 ab.

I think all those swings and misses are contributing to climate change. Cumulative wind fluctuations or something. Expect fewer strikeouts in May as Rays pitchers get a microscopic strike zone for insubordination.

So let’s game theory this whole approach a bit. Hitters are taking the first pitch at a very high rate (I should probably try to figure that out, but I think that it is true from simple observation). If hitters begin to hack at those first pitch strikes again (question #2 How many first pitch HRs did Mike Trout have last season?) will that produce less strike outs and more balls in play? There after, forcing pitchers to throw more outside the strike zone on first pitches? Chaco Chicken and the egg, huh?

There was a guy who wrote the book “The Science of Hitting.” In the book…he said to NEVER, EVER swing at the 1st pitch. The idea being that it not only makes (helps) you become a better hitter…it also forces the pitcher to throw more pitches (as a rule). The dude who wrote this book was a pretty good hitter. I do…what he suggests. I always have. Figure he isn’t a bad guy to try to emulate.

I can tell you one team that isn’t striking out a ton of people. The Twins.

Although they’ve managed to stay at an even .500 record, they are not striking anyone out. They have a total of 128 strikeouts as a team through the month of April (average of 5.56 K/9 as a team). As a whole we knew they wouldn’t strike many out, but the staff was supposed to be inducing a ton of groundballs -and so far – they’re pretty much league average in that department.

Also, of those 128 strikeouts, less than half of them were from our starting staff (60). Hernandez had one more strikeout in two relief appearances, but that’s still pretty bad. Like 2.6 strikeouts per start bad.

Love me some Twins, but boy I can’t wait to see the likes of Myer, Mays and Berrios.

Clearly, Batman did something very, very wrong and Batwoman is making him pay by trolling his own team while she gloats about those bat-awesome Tiger K records. Like you don’t know who’s in charge in the Bat Cave…

(psst, dude, she’s gonna leave you for a woman in one of the greatest comic book ironies ever)

During yesterday’s Met game they displayed a graphic that showed the eight highest monthly rates of strikeouts per game have been the last eight regular season months. If the eight highest monthly rates of home runs per game were the last eight months, wouldn’t people be screaming steroids at the top of their lungs? Not that it would be the explanation, necessarily, but it would be happening.